53.

Program Note by A. Robert Johnson

Epigraphes antiques  (1914)  Claude Debussy (1862-1918)                       

These six pieces for piano–four-hands are based on Chansons de Bilitis, first published in Paris in 1894, 143 texts from which Debussy selected three for songs that purport to be translations of poems by a woman named Bilitis, a contemporary and acquaintance of  Sappho. They caused a sensation, not only because finding an intact cache of poems from a completely unknown Greek poet circa 600 B.C. was such an unlikely discovery, but because of its open and sensitive exploration of lesbian eroticism. In fact Bilitis never existed. The poems were a clever forgery by Pierre Louÿs—the "translator, " and a close friend of Debussy.  To lend weight to the claim of authenticity, he included a bibliography with bogus supporting works. Louÿs had a good command of the classics, and he salted Bilitis with a number of quotations from real poets, including Sappho, to make it even more convincing.  Although these texts are fake, their literary value is significant. And even though they were written by a man, they acquired cultural significance for lesbians. In fact, one of the earliest organizations of lesbians in the United States was called the Daughters of Bilitis. This may have been because it was a reference that would elude most people.  (The preceding is based on a note by J. B. Hare.)

The Epigraphes are one of only three publications for piano four-hands by the composer, Petite suite and Marche ecossaise being the other two. His conceptual use of pianissimo is notable, as is the imagery of exotic lands, as in the poems –– Egypt and Greece, and contrasts of nature as experienced by rain in night. Yet he manages a unity throughout that carries to the very end with a theme, artfully masked, brought forward from the first of the pieces.